Grant will help El Monte clinic expand hours at new location

EL MONTE - A $50,000 grant is helping a local health clinic that serves low-income and homeless people expand its hours and pay for healthcare services for more individuals in need.

The American Hospital Management Company (AHMC) Healthcare Foundation this week awarded the grant to the Cleaver Family Wellness Clinic, which was forced to cut back its hours last year due to budget constraints.

The grant will help the clinic open a new site at the Garvey Court senior affordable housing complex, at Garvey Avenue near Central Avenue, where services to the public will be available 20 hours a week, likely beginning in July, according to Rex Botengan, the clinic's resource development manager.

The new clinic's schedule is still being developed, he said.

"The majority of our patients are low-income, poverty-level and homeless folks that are uninsured or under-insured," he said. "We provide sliding scale fees for those who can't afford insurance."

The AHMC grant helps the clinic pay for the cost of care above and beyond the sliding scale fees fund.

Patients pay between $10 and $35 for visits, although each visit comes at a $100 to $150 cost to the clinic, according to Monica Mada, clinic operations manager.

The Church of Our Saviour Center, a nonsectarian, community outreach organization, opened the Cleaver Family Wellness Clinic in 1999 at 4368 Santa Anita Ave.

It serves between 3,500 to 4,000 patients per year.

Mary Lopez, 39, has been going to the center for five years for medical services.

"I think it's such a great program. It helps a lot of people, they help me," she said.

Lopez, who can't afford health insurance, said the clinic's services are especially important because she deals with high blood pressure.

And she isn't alone.

El Monte has high rates of chronic disease such as high blood pressure and diabetes, Mada said. The community also has high rates of sexually transmitted diseases and other health disorders, she said.

The AHMC Health Foundation, established in 2009, awarded the grant in order to improve access to healthcare services. The foundation serves communities surrounding AHMC hospitals, which have four locations in the San Gabriel Valley and one in Whittier.